Integrated circuit devices and packages are used in equipment and products including cars, planes, industrial control systems as well as the appliances and devices we typically associate with electronics. The growing numbers of portable electronics, such as cell phones, portable computers, voice recorders, etc, are some of these devices. However, across virtually all the uses for integrated circuit devices, there continues to be a demand for reducing the size and increasing the features or functions as well as the performance. We want more features for less size, weight and cost from the largest equipment to the smallest device. Continued improvement in integrated circuit devices and packages are a significant part of the smaller size, more functions and high performance.
As the demand for electronic devices grows, manufacturers are seeking ways to reduce the size and cost of the packaged integrated circuit devices. To meet these needs, packaging technologies are shifting towards smaller dimensions in both the integrated circuit devices and packages. This is driving the demand for smaller integrated circuit device packages and higher I/O pin counts. These smaller packages, such as chip-scale-packages, are scarcely larger than the tiny integrated circuit devices they protect. Unfortunately, this smaller size and the increased functions bring along their own set of problems, many of which have significantly negative effects on the reliability, assembly processes, high volume production and costs of the devices and products in which they are included.
In most chip-scale-packages, a printed circuit board (PCB), film, or lead frame has been used as a base or a substrate. This type of package structure, particularly when using a PCB substrate, has suffered from reliability problems in part due to poor adhesion between molding compounds and the surfaces of the base or substrate. Many chip-scale-packages suffer from poor adhesion between the molding compound and the solder mask of the PCB or film substrate. Similarly, adhesion problems plague the film substrates as well.
As for the lead frame chip-scale-package, attempts for improvements suffer from limitations in increasing the number of the I/O pin counts for the packages. The lead frame types of leads or electrical connections, such as peripheral types of leads, significantly limit the number of the I/O of the package. These packages impose their capacity limitations on the functions of the integrated circuit devices that they contain, rather than address the demands of increasing features and functions.
Many other attempts have been unsuccessful in meeting the demands of continued decreases in size, increases in functions while improving reliability and cost effective volume manufacturing. These attempts at decreasing size and increasing functions have complicated assembly processes. The attempts have also been difficult to apply in the production processes for the chip-scale-packages. The complications and difficulties have had a negative effect on package reliability and costs.
Thus, a need still remains for a micro chip-scale-package system to provide smaller size, increased I/O pin count, improved reliability, simpler assembly processes and easy implementation in high volume production and lower costs. In view of the increasing demand for improved density of integrated circuit devices and their packages, particularly portable electronic products, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.